SINGAPORE – By providing support and infrastructure, the Government is committed to helping workers and businesses here seize opportunities offered by the digital economy, said Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran.

But the minister also said national efforts – such as the 23 Industry Transformation Maps and the $150 million set aside for AI Singapore, the national programme that enhances Singapore’s AI capabilities – have to work in tandem with efforts from companies.

Speaking at the launch of a new developer space by tech giant Google in Singapore, Mr Iswaran said: “Our goal is for these initiatives and industry efforts to work hand in hand to form a thriving ecosystem of opportunities for all.

“Technology and digitalisation have made possible a wealth of opportunities for everyone. And we believe that these new digital solutions, and the collective efforts of the Government, the industry and various other stakeholders will help ensure that our businesses are more competitive and innovative.”

The space, called the Developer Space @ Google, is the company’s first physical space dedicated to developers that sits inside a Google office.

The 2,700 sq ft area is located at Block 80 of the Mapletree Business City at Pasir Panjang and will allow Google to run programmes for and with the developer community.

One such programme is Google’s four-day Machine-Learning Boot Camp, where professional developers, be they working in start-ups or established enterprises, can learn and gain expertise in Google machine-learning technology such as TensorFlow, Google Cloud Platform Machine Learning and BigQuery.

Mr Iswaran said four members of local dining-reservation start-up Chope’s tech team attended this programme in November last year.

He said that besides learning how to maximise the services provided by the Google Cloud Platform, the Chope team also learnt to better standardise its data within the cloud platform and use it as a data warehouse.

The Machine-Learning Boot Camp also helped them think about how to ensure the Chope app is able to keep up with and adopt the latest AI models within its system.

The Developer Space @ Google will also house community events such as the annual Google Developer Festival, which will aim to build up local developer capabilities and their knowledge of the latest technologies and technological trends.

Said Mr Iswaran: “Complementing the efforts of the Government, contributions and investments from the industry such as Google have been very important in bolstering our economic growth and our efforts to develop new industry segments.

“These investments and these initiatives, they bring with them the talent, the resources and the capabilities that are essential for our industries and also because they help to spark growth across the entire economy, cutting across different verticals.”

In his speech, he highlighted how partnerships with international heavyweights such as Google are critical in helping Singapore business and workers become relevant internationally.

He said the Developer Space @ Google will make available opportunities for collaboration and sharing of ideas with regional and international tech professionals, as well as bring together a network of top-notch tech specialists whom local talents can learn from.

When local businesses and talent mingle and learn from such leading international companies, they can become more innovative and competitive, and compete with the best from around the world, he said.

“While our companies are being groomed to be well-positioned for these opportunities, we also believe the partnerships that they have with leading international companies is going to be an important part of positioning them well for the future,” said Mr Iswaran.

“And so these partnership, and others like it, will provide a foothold for our local small and medium enterprises to expand overseas and spark new opportunities for Singaporeans.”

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